DIY Wood Wallpaper Planks

From day one, I wanted to add wood to the back of the built-in, in the dining room. It wasn’t a priority by any means, and I went through some different game plans in my mind. 

The room began like this. Not bad, but always missing something. 


This post contains affiliate links. Thank you to the sponsors Boutique Rugs and Weaber Lumber. 


Building cabinets in my past life, I originally planned to use a legit material in this cabinet: pine v-groove board laid vertically. (This is what our kitchen ceiling is made of).  However, I decided because you couldn’t really touch the area and it didn’t need to actually be durable, I would just use wallpaper. 

I got some suggestions to add color into the room and while I still haven’t painted the awesome nickel gap shiplap on the walls, sponsored by Weaber lumber, I only have the heart to go the alabaster route. I like the lighter color in here. Sorry for all those that voted darker on my Insta poll. 


 When I also had the opportunity to partner with Boutique Rugs, I was so excited! They offer a ton of really beautiful rugs in all different sizes. I knew this was the way to get the color I craved. I found this gorgeous rug, The Elaziz (7’6”x 10’3”). It can be found on their website, or by clicking here, and is so pretty! The colors are bright and vibrant without being overbearing. Boutique Rugs has great prices and I’m very happy with the quality of this rug. 


One small problem though, after recieving this beautiful rug, I decided the color I painted the built in, inside was clashing. 

I had tried to stencil it and it looked terrible. 

Scouts honor, I had no intention of tackling this wood wallpaper project yesterday, but I had to share my gorgeous rug and I couldn’t kill the vibes with an ugly cabinet back. 


I found this wood wallpaper by Valspar at Target. I liked the color, but didn’t like the pattern of the wood. I haven’t been able to find a herringbone wallpaper I like, so I decide to make one.

I’ll share my steps and the materials needed below. 


For this project you’ll need:

  • Scissors 
  • Razor (not necessary if your scissors are sharp enough) 
  • Wallpaper rolls (1 roll covers 27.5 sqft.) 
  • Measuring tape 
  • Square 

I started by cutting the “wood” into pieces. 


I marked the center of my space with blue tape. 

I proceeded to start in one corner of my cabinet and angled it approximately. You can be very technical and measure and calculate the angles but if you’re lazy like me you can do the “ish” method. This isn’t real wood. You will use the razor later to clean it up so be slightly sloppy, always following the rule of having extra and not less. 



Continue all the way up. 


For the center chevron where the two sides meet: the top angle of the piece must be longer than the center line to have enough to trim. You will go back and trim the center line all the way down. 


See stencil fail above. Here is my starting point sort of pushed into the corner at an approximate angle that looked good. I made sure the piece went further than the center line. 


This product was easy to cut and use so I would leave it slightly long and trim it with my scissors or razor. 


You can also cut first and then go back and hold it up before removing the back and remeaaure the other side and cut. You risk making a mistake more this way. 


Continue this the whole way. When you fill the space go back and mark the center again. Carefully cut the center line all the way down and remove extra on the outside of the center line. 


Repeat the whole process on the opposite side, trimming the center line at the end. 

You could do a tighter pattern but I wanted the full chevron looking straight on at the cabinet. To do this you would measure to the center the same way but would then divide those two spaces and do one more pattern. More cutting for sure though. 

As you do the top area that connects try to connect the pattern. Mine is not perfect but the darker piece is in a chevron pattern all the way across. 

This rug is so beautiful with the denim chairs. The colors are great! 

After I finished the chevron pattern, I added the wallpaper to the sides but going in the correct pattern. It went fast because I just cut the correct sizes and laid it out rather than using the planks method. 


I am loving how this whole space turned out. It’s a little more boho than I usually go but it still vibes well with the rest of the downstairs. 

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Spring Garden Center 

Aside from a rough start with the pollen and confusing temperatures, Spring is the most wonderful time of the year. The world comes alive again. Color slowly creeps back into the dead and dry landscape. 

This post is sponsored by Tractor Supply Company. Post may contain affiliate links. 

It is a renewing time of year; your home decor should bring the same cheery feeling to the inside your home. Your home should feel warm and inviting just like the spring temperatures. 


It should evoke the same feeling as stepping outside on a warm spring day to hear birds chirping and sun blazing down. Beautiful blooming flowers and the mixture of new fresh green leaves livening up the landscape. Fresh, fun colors with natural elements are an easy way to achieve this Spring garden look. 

I was so excited to have the opportunity to partner with Tractor Supply Company to share Trisha Yearwood’s exclusive, beautiful home decor collection. 


It is a great assortment of functional pieces to use in and around your home. Industrial elements mesh with classic country colors. 


This line is full of simple, but beautiful decor pieces that can be dressed up or down easily. I decided to bring my garden inside so I can enjoy some Spring foliage sans pollen. 


The pieces I chose from the line are the pedastal servers (green and teal), the adorable finials, and the milk bottle carrier. 

I used these pedestal servers as a gardening supply center drop. I have some flowers planted along our front porch so, I plan to use this spot as my garden drop. My gardening gloves, trowels, and watering cans can be left here on the way in to the house. 

These servers could also be dressed up more for a party to serve food off of. The finials are effortless style that could be added all over the home. 

I stacked a large and small pedastal server together to give more dimension. This small house I used in my Christmas decor doubles as “green house” decor in my garden center. 


You can shop the pieces I used from the exclusive Trisha Yearwood Home Collection at Tractor Supply Company below. 

And be sure to shop the rest of the line here.

Overall, I am impressed with the beautiful pieces in this collection. Scroll through their site or visit your local Tractor Supply Company store. I know I am eyeing more of the fabulous pieces they are offering. 


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Dining Room Revamp

Post in partnership with Christmas Tree Shops And That, a store I absolutely love! All sponsored items are from their new line The Grainhouse™. This post contains affiliate links, full disclosure here.

I was thrilled to start off the New Year partnering with And That. (for short) They recently launched a brand new line, The Grainhouse™, a beautifully curated line of farmhouse essentials and decor at unbeatable prices. I want to start off by offering a huge thank you to this terrific company for helping this revamp happen.


I have been eager to finish our dining room. Our original table was too ornate and fancy for my matured taste, but I was going to live with it. I painted this room to match the upholstered material and was fine with using it. That is, until, we moved in and the realness of an open concept home was glaring at me.

This table did not fit in our new house, literally. It was huge. So, thanks Craigslist for the connection, and you’re welcome to the nice fellow who was dreaming of my table. (He told me so picking it up.) Bye, bye table! I proceeded to use the cash to buy a more suited farmhousey feeling table. End dining room revamp.

So there it sat, waiting for some final love. Some entertain your family and friends in my comforting space love.


Enter The Grainhouse Line at Christmas Tree Shops And That, and I easily styled this space.


The line is just full of entertaining goodness! They had the best selection of farmhouse style baskets I have seen in one store and honestly the best prices too.


I stocked up on some beautiful dining-ware and serve-ware. The lettuce serving plate is seriously so cute. They also had a smaller version of the lettuce server that I think I need to go back for to use as salad plates.


I loved how the dip bowl was used, in store, as a server for cups. They had all different sizes and materials (marble and wood, oh my!) of cutting boards and serving boards.



Also some of the cutest farmhouse pillows I ever did see. Some were sold out online, but were in the store.


Ignore the boo boo on the wall; (PT. 2 revamp will fix this, if you have been following my IG stories you’ll know what I’m talking about) I had a battle with a piece of double sided tape and the tape won 😵. Just focus on that pillow perfection.


This line offers so many cute signs too, like the rustic, galvanized farmhouse sign and the local sign. I also snagged an adorable pantry sign for the kitchen.


This affordable line is an easy way to revamp a space without spending too much or worrying about coordinating.


The fabrics and material used in this line offer so much texture and the perfect colors. This braided runner comes in multiple colors. All the colors go together and are easily mixed and matched within the line.

I bought most of my stuff in store but the line can be found online here. 

Sources

1. The Grainhouse™ Solid Chenille Herringbone Square Throw Pillow

2. The Grainhouse™ Large White Embossed Leaf Platter

3. Grainhouse™ 16” Mango Wood Paddle Serving Board

4. The Grainhouse™ Solid Braided Cotton Table Runner

5. Grainhouse™ Wood Dip Board“>

6. The Grainhouse™ Textured Stripe Square Throw Pillow

7. The Grainhouse™ 24” Metal “Farmhouse” Wall Decor

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Farmhouse Basket Shades DIY

Hindsights 20/20. Yada, yada, yada yada.


We all know the feeling; “I would have done it this way, knowing what I know now.” I try to make informed decisions to avoid this inevitability of life. However, no one is as smart as their future self; so, knowing what I know now, I would have never bought pendants lights for my kitchen with glass. Why you ask?

  1. Cleaning. A small round object can’t be that hard to keep clean. Wrong! Everything sticks to these globes and they are impossible to remove all the streaks. Impossible, I tell ya!
  2. The opening to the globe is for a tiny hand. I have a small hand! Apparently not a tiny hand, but small nonetheless. I can hardly squeeze it inside. The result is an impossible to clean perfectly, globe (my anxiety can’t take it), but also a difficult to clean globe too!
  3. They don’t photograph well. This isn’t as big of a deal as the first two. I actually like them, clean obviously, in person so a picture is a small annoyance.
  4. Finally, opportunity cost. Everyday I stare at these dirty, dusty pendants is another day I loose with the perfect shade.

In order to preserve my marriage, I did not ask to replace the pendants that are less than 2 years old. Scouts honor, I didn’t mean to pick the most annoying pendants ever, but there they are constantly making my clean kitchen feel streaky and dusty. 😩

I needed a solution! I have been pondering and pondering to no avail! Then when I found a pendant with a basket type shade I felt the inspo flood in. Basket shades would look great in my kitchen!

I found a bushel basket initially, and a Pinterest picture to confirm my inspo. It was gonna be perfect until Michaels only had one basket I needed. I have two kids, taking them to store is the equivalent of the anxiety the pendants give me. I dragged my two kiddos to the store twice looking for these baskets all the while they have them as displays! I asked if I can just buy them since they are out and they wouldn’t. Not cool. I still like the idea of them and I guess since it’s a cheap fix I can experiment if I ever want to.

As a result of being annoyed searching I found an alternative that I think I like ever better.


These baskets have a lot of texture and are a great size and shape. I got them at Michaels for  50% off  $29.99 or around $15 each. $45 for the update. I couldn’t even buy one new pendant light for this.
I wanted to spray paint the metal on this basket because our existing fixture is oil rubbed bronze and I wanted it to match. I only had this can of Charcoal Rustoleum chalk spray paint lying around and the color was a decent match.


I used a wire cutter to cut the center of the bottom of the baskets, in a circle. I did this so it would  slide onto my exisiting pedant. I used the fabric to create a border and conceal the sharp edges that were cut.


The edges will be sharp so be very careful! I used hot glue and the existing fabric to cover the edges. I just folded it over the sharp point and hot glued.

Once my shades were ready I removed the glass shades, carefully, so I can use them in the future if I change my mind. (Not happening!)


My shades went on very easy with the pendants. the circle I cut out fit around the bottom of the light and stayed. Depending on how your pendant is you may have to attach it somehow.

I love how they turned out, they changed the whole feel of our kitchen! 

Here is the before: 

And the after: 


 

Shop some of the items in my kitchen below. 

 

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Kitchen

From the moment I found our house plans I  began thinking about the kitchen. I have an affinity for country French styling but don’t always love intense distressing and it can also can be too fancy, smancy looking for my taste as well. Our house is a craftsman by definition, but has some softer features and more neutral colors than many I have seen. I love mixing in industrial metal features so all in all I would call my style industrial farmhouse. 


I love white cabinets and they photogrpah just beautifully but sometimes white on white feels somewhat clinical in real life. When I picked our cabinet color I actually thought it would be even more gray!


See how it looks different?! 
 I was considering painting them darker when I first saw the true color but then decided it may be a good inbetween- not too white – not too gray. I absolutely love how it all turned out together so I’m glad I took the chance on something a little different. It’s always a good choice to see paint colors in your natural light before making a final decision. 


The backsplash was hard I knew I wanted white and there would have been many options that would all look good in here but this tile adds elegance a simple white subway tile can’t. We considered doing a Carrerra marble subway tile but then found this arabesque tile that was just beautiful with the cabinet color and granite. 


I fell absolutely in love with the granite when I saw it. My husband teases me I always pick the most expensive thing out and it held true here because I literally picked out their most expensive stone. 


In my defense- 1. It’s perfect. It has whole gemstone looking pieces throughout 😍and 2. I was willing to pick a lower priced stone for the bathrooms to balance it out. Guess which granite we have? 👐🏼My negotiations made sense I guess! 


These pictures are of our counter top templates laid out on the slabs the way we want. (We asked to come back in after the template was done to do this.) Granite has natural variation so selecting your actual cuts is a way to help ensure you get the beauty of the stone you picked! A 3″ square sample doesn’t do justice or show the true granite patterns of an 8′ slab. 

We used table legs on our island and on our cooktop to add some more detail. 


Thanks for reading friends! 

  1. Cabinet pulls- Top Knobs- Somerset Collection 3.75 Inch Weston Appliance Pull – Oil Rubbed Bronze Finish 
  2. Cabinet Knobs- Dynasty Hardware Finish: Oil Rubbed Bronze
  3. Appliance Pulls- Top Knobs- Somerset Collection 7 Inch Weston Appliance Pull – Oil Rubbed Bronze Finish 
  4. Countertops- Bianca Bono Granite 
  5. Pot filler- Kingston Brass- Restoration Pot Filler, Oil Rubbed Bronze (currently unavailable) 
  6. Faucet- American Classic Gourmetier Single Handle Kitchen Faucet- Oil Rubbed Bronze 
  7. Backsplash- Villa Heirloom Linen Arabesque Porcelain Mosaic- I don’t think they carry our exact tile anymore but Floor & Decor has similar options- linked here. 
  8. Cabinet paint color- Sherwin Williams- Worldly Gray 7043
  9. Stain color- Gemini NGR Dye Stain- Van Dyke Brown 
  10. Ceiling stain- V-groove -Minwax Provencial & the beams are Minwax Dark Walnut 
  11. Table legs- Square Islander Island Post in Soft Maple- Osbourne Wood Products
  12. Pendants- Shades of Light in oil rubbed bronze 

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 Basic Kitchen Design Tips

Food is nourishment to our bodies like cooking and sharing a meal together is nourishment to our souls. This is why the kitchen is the heart of the home. Families spend an immense amount of time in this room, together. For this reason, a kitchen that is difficult to use could hinder a family’s bonding experience.  

I learned so much of what I know about design from my father. Some of my earliest memories of him involve some project or another he was working on in his basement woodworking shop and feeling like he can fix and build anything. I still feel this way and feel lucky to have apprenticed under him in my adult life. He has great design ideas and understands the flow a kitchen needs to have to be functional. 

Enter the concept of the “work triangle.” 

The basic idea is that the three areas most in use in a kitchen are the refrigerator, the sink, and the stove. These areas should be laid out in a way that you can hop around to each fluently. 

This article from Kitchens.com explains this idea further and gives more examples of how a work triangle can be laid out in different ways for maximum efficiency.

Below is a renovated basic kitchen with an obvious work triangle. The cook can float around easily with no obstructions. 



In addition to using the work triangle to help design a functioning space, some basic concepts of how a kitchen is used can be helpful in defining the design. 

  • A dishwasher should always be to the direct left or right of the sink. 
  • If there are no constraints on the dishwasher location put it on your dominant side. (Right handed people put it on the right, left handed people on the left side.) 
  • A peninsula tends to feel boxed in and maze like no matter the location. Where possible, an island creates a more open flow. 
  • If space allows open the work triangle up enough to allow each aspect (stove, refrigerator, and sink) to be fully functioning at the same time so multiple people can work in the kitchen simultaneously. For example, the dishwasher can  open completely and is not in the way of any other part of the triangle. 

The picture of the kitchen above does have a work triangle but the fridge can not open at the same time as the dishwasher and overall the space can be tight for multiple people but this is also just a realty and constraint of smaller spaces. No matter the size of the kitchen there can always be “too many cooks in the kitchen,” at times. These design tips are just best recommendations. Even when you dislike your kitchen space find a way to make it work for your family here and now; come together and cook a meal together every once in a while. 

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